


Our Time In The Universe

by fouroux



Category: U2
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Smut, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 07:23:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8003653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fouroux/pseuds/fouroux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little B/E van fluff set in 1981.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Time In The Universe

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this bit months and months ago when I'd still planned to write a sequel for Helter Skelter. It's been sitting in my WIPs forever and when I read it again the other day I thought this could just as well work as a tiny oneshot, so I edited it a bit and here we are.
> 
> I realize winters might not be quite this harsh in Belfast, but let's just pretend they are.
> 
>  
> 
> Many thanks to my beta Laura, who helped out on super short notice!  
> Any remaining mistakes are my own. Of course, this never happened. _Of course._

The old van hummed deeply as it sped down a sleet-covered road on their way to Belfast some time past midnight. Faster cars passed the vehicle occasionally, their headlights shortly illuminating the dimly lit interior and revealing heaps of blankets in the back. One was curled up into a tight ball by himself, the covers pulled up to the nose of the boy beneath to fend off the January cold. The other two heaps were huddled close, and there was no telling where one of the many blankets began and another ended, or who it actually belonged to.  
  
Edge blinked sleepily, watching the beams of light rush across the wall right in front of him and listening to the quiet radio music and soft murmurs of Paul's and Adam's wavering over from the front seats. He couldn't make out their exact words, but he guessed they were talking about faraway countries and exotic food, like they often did. Places Edge had yet to see, and things he had yet to try.  
  
It was strange how familiar it all felt, being on the road again. Just the other day Edge had spent the holidays at home with his family, enjoying some hot cocoa, the company of his siblings and the blue woollen jumper Aislinn had given him for Christmas. It sat a little too loose around his shoulders, but she had bought it with him in mind, and that was all that mattered, really. That, and her smile when he had worn it on the day he had taken her out to the pictures.  
  
In between family dinners, visiting the local church's choir and exchanging cold-nosed kisses with his girlfriend, Edge had hardly had the time to think about the band and their still upcoming gigs. New Year's Eve had come around eventually, however, and with it a big party at Paul's which had lasted late into the night and had ended with a familiar crooked smile and an insistent tug on Edge's wrist, stealing him away and reminding him of what he had left behind on the road.  
  
Now back in the van, Edge felt equally comfortable under the covers here as he did back in his parents' house, eyes closing drowsily as the snug fist inside his sweatpants continued its lazy rubbing motions beneath the blankets. Bono had been at it for a few minutes now. Clumsy at first, with cold finger tips slipping around him eagerly, and Edge had hissed and nearly rolled away, but they had warmed up quick enough and Bono had wriggled closer still until it felt too good to complain, radiating heat against Edge's back and neck like the human oven he was.  
  
The sweet ache of arousal almost lulled Edge back to sleep as he laid perfectly still, yet when the next couple of strokes turned inevitably slicker, shooting sharp spears of lust and urgency into his belly, Bono's grip tightened attentively at the change in Edge's muscles, then quickened. The van took a turn, jolted over an uneven road, and Edge curled a little more into himself, bit down on the corner of the nearest blanket and mutely grabbed Bono's forearm in warning.  
  
It was no use. He came immediately, suddenly entirely unprepared for it all, and softly grunted his release into the wool between his teeth, the sound muffled by the fabric and the van's tires rolling over frozen gravel. Another car's beam of light flashed through the foggy windows, and Edge could have sworn he saw little galaxies come to life and cease again, but then his muscles gave and he blinked it all away with a racing heart.  
  
The van came to a stop and the front doors opened. An icy breeze rushed through to the back of the car before the doors fell shut again, locking out the pair of deep, familiar voices. Edge shuddered, both from the cold and Bono's thumb lazily caressing him one last time before he pulled out, grazing Edge's hipbone on his way back into his own pocket of warmth. Edge sighed and rolled onto his belly with heavy limbs, the many blankets weighing comfortingly down on his back and shoulders, and he could hear Bono rustle about, peeling himself free from his cocoon, and Edge wouldn't get up, no, he wouldn't. Edge didn't look, head too heavy and body still mildly vibrating with endorphins as Bono climbed over a sleeping Larry and past the dismantled drum kit in the back. The back door opened with a thundering slide and another snowy breeze tousled Edge's hair.  
  
“Hey, B. Come out for a smoke?”  
  
“Have to take a piss.”  
  
“Afraid you'll have to make do with one of those pines over there.”  
  
“Put some shoes on first, you nutter.”  
  
The door rattled halfway shut again, leaving only little warmth inside as Edge huddled deeper into his toasty tent of blankets, listening to Adam's giggles and Paul's soft curses while Bono's sock-padded feet went off on a daredevil run over gravel and patches of snow.  
  
“Fookincoldin'ere,” Larry mumbled, and Edge turned his head towards the disgruntled voice. He hadn't forgotten about him lying close by with only his blonde hair sticking out from one end of the covers, but when Edge had woken up to Bono's curious fingers and his breath in his neck, it had been difficult to focus on anything at all but that. Now, with a little colour rising to his cheeks, Edge felt pangs of guilt lick at his ribs. Being reckless was not a trait he felt familiar with, yet with Bono in the lead recklessness was to be expected, and he trusted him. Maybe a little too much.  
  
Edge could hear the cogs turn inside his head, sluggish and slow, trying to click into places that didn't quite want to fit as he wondered sleepily when secret kisses at parties and hidden handjobs next to their band mates had become a thing that just happened. Sooner or later they would have to talk about this, Edge thought as his heavy eyelids succumbed to gravity, whereas _later_ seemed a lot more appealing to his sated body and mind than sooner. He just wanted to cherish their secret a while longer.  
  
The back door slid open again and Edge started awake. He had only dozed off for a couple of minutes, he figured, and yet he could have sworn he had dreamed about a body next to his and a mouth at his ear; whose he wasn't quite sure.  
  
Blinking the drowsiness from his eyes, Edge stretched his neck, watching Bono climb his way back inside with the grace of a puppy, a wide smile and the tip of his tongue peeking out between his small teeth, and it could only mean one thing as Edge saw the glee in Bono's eyes, then the heap of fresh snow in his cupped hands. “Shit,” Edge cursed, suddenly wide awake as he hastily pushed himself out of his pile of blankets to shove Larry awake.  
  
“Larry! Larry, wake up! Bono, don't--”  
  
Larry's shocked, high-pitched yelp died off into a gasp as the cold snow hit him right in the face, and Bono's bellowing laughter followed. Soon enough, the two belligerent boys turned the back of the van into a sparring arena while Paul yelled at them from the back door to cut it out, Adam leaned against the open door with his trademark smile, watching the scene, and Edge joined in eventually with flying pillows.  
  
Home was miles away, and yet Edge found it right here, in the back of their van in the middle of nowhere.


End file.
